A day in Mumbai and I move same time as Jupiter

The previous post in this series is here..

After coming back to Mumbai from Dehradun, we did a repack. Suitcases to and from US are 23kg, suitcases on domestic flights are 15kg. So my in-laws got our stuff to various points.

We reweighed stuff, went to the tailor for some “blouse stitching” for San. She was going to come here a week after I came back. Then we had a nice dinner with San’s uncle at an interesting place. The food was some kind of fusion food but I still had stuff to eat there. Mozarella sticks or an Indian equivalent.

Then we got some rest. The next morning we got up very early, went to Siddhi Vinayak, Mahalakshmi and then to Babul Nath temple. This was my first time visiting this temple. It was a wonderful experience. We ate a nice breakfast outside Siddhi Vinayak. We had lunch which my MIL made. Then we went shopping for tea and good quality jaggery to bring back. They fulfilled my last minute wish to eat at Sadhguru. So had an early dinner and got some sleep.

When I went to Mumbai airport in the morning, they told me my flight to Dubai had left. They had notified my cell but I did not turn on an international data plan. Emirates told me that I was not the only one who had this issue and all of us who thought we were on time but late were rebooked in the next flight to Dubai and will spend a day in Dubai. I almost cried. I had meetings to attend here Monday morning. Told them to get me on the last flight that day to Dubai to minimize my time there. It was not that far out. I just wanted to go hug San. So after some help from Emirates staff who had to check me out of the airport with the updated boarding pass, took an Uber and came back to Chembur. Just crashed. Then got to take a photo of MIL’s helper who always asks me nicely how I am doing on every trip. The smile on her face when I showed her the portrait, priceless! Ended up eating what was left and took a nap for a short time and returned to the airport.

Jupiter had moved I guess and he was taking me to a “new level”. Had left SFO with two suitcases and a carry on. When I came back to Emirates counter they said 2 suitcases and laptop bag was it. No carry on. Had to pay 85 $ to get the weight moved into the suitcases, stuff the laptop bag into the carry on to make it one piece in front of an audience. It was interesting.

Finally got to Dubai. They had no airport hotel, no chance to leave. They said lot of passengers stranded because of the flight timing changes. There were people sleeping at the gates. One nice lady said for 100 bucks I could rent a sleeping pod and sleep there with a blanket and pillow and use the restrooms and get water all included. So I rented the pod. It was nice but not quiet. The sound of 20 snorers was there. The looked at me and said “free earplugs”. Slept for a good 6 hours only to be woken by San who screamed “go to gate now. Just got a message saying your flight is boarding”. I pankicked. Not again!! So grabbed everything and ran to the gate. Lucikly Dubai was an hour ahead of Chennai. So I still had an hour. Missed using that restroom and water, tea etc. They obviously weren’t letting me back in as I checked out. Walked around the gate for an hour and finally realized why all these flight time changes.

There was war out there! The flight took the weirdest route to get to SFO. Not sure why they couldn’t have just gone via China to SFO. Went straight up and took a left and came all across the US to come down to SFO. it was a long long flight.

After coming home and unpacking felt a sigh of relief. Could get back to my normal routine at work. That tea and jaggery ended up being a lot more expensive than what I could have paid for at the local Indian store. A new lesson learned.

It was an interesting trip. I did get a chance to meet all four of my aunts in Chennai and my local cousins. Also got to meet my music teacher at his house and meet his family. Made a flying visit to Paadarivom Padipparivom and got to hug Nagubhai, the man who has made my life a lot better since COVID thanks to the music initiative he pioneered and kept running through really tough times.

Somehow after coming back, I lost my voice and motivation to sing. Just kept focusing on work. That helped. Now things are slowly changing. Jupiter is still playing tricks with my body and mind or maybe it is my dad doing funny stuff to my head behind the scenes. Won’t know. Have started singing again though!

Just wish things get back to how they were in March.

Here are the last few photos that make a cut for this post..

While I was on that long flight back, Kuwait airport got bombed and one died and 60+ were injured. In a way maybe things turned out good and I made it back home in one piece, sleeping in pods or not!

There is no travel in the near future given my health condition. Will be glad to write about music and hopefully sing more regularly. Need to get out of my current predicament with the knee and start squatting, walking, do yoga and get back to my old self! One can only pray for a quick recovery!

When life gives you lemons

You just take it to Seattle..

No. I am not making that up. The MIL is in Seattle now, spending time with her new Daughter in law, and of course her son.

Unfortunately, neither of them blog and the unique MIL-DIL bonding relationship which is something as primordial as a man woman relationship, will not be chronicled! We are guessing that many SUN TV episodes worth of material may have been created by now. As usual, I digress..

This has been an extra long two weeks at work for me and a real hard time for San, who took the brunt of the kids boredom attacks, but we have "Prevailed"!

Now for the title of the post. When the MIL went to Seattle, not only did she take some lemons from here, which had to be moved around the bags, but she decided to take a "thenkuzhal maker" (refer this post.. the thing on the bottom right in the photo).

After opening her hand bag, the screening dudes were shocked. They had never seen an assorted item list like this. The MIL freaked out and she waved for me and the little one to stay a little longer outside the screening area. A team of people were now working on her with hand held gizmos that beeped all over the place. They checked her bangles, her thali, aranakayar, etc. etc. and finally after making sure that she is just another heavily jeweled middle aged desi woman, moved her aside.

We breathed a sigh of relief and started to wave goodbye, and she gave us the "Stop" sign with her palm, again! Now a lady started to wear gloves and walked towards the MIL. While we were worried that they were going to put her through hell, we saw a sigh of relief from the MIL. They were just wearing gloves to go through her baggage. That is when they pulled up the "thenkuzhal maker", for everyone to see!

To the untrained non-desi eye, it looks like some instrument that would be more at ease on a shelf in a physics lab, and the inspector (who looked like he was of Korean origin) was absolutely clueless. Somehow he let her go after a brief conversation.

Once in Seattle, we asked the MIL, "So what did you tell him?"

"I told him it is a mini pasta maker and he was convinced!" was the answer.

Mini pasta maker, indeed.

Note to self : Screen MIL's baggage at home when traveling with her the next time.

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Back to the routine..

Back in the US and back to the daily routine. Almost forgot that we were in India for a month!

Some travel tips for other folks who might be traveling with kids to the US.

1. Carry on Baggage : Throughout the journey from here to India, we had one carry on bag per person (even the baby who has a 75% ticket gets a carry on bag) and a laptop bag (San, me, her brother all had laptop bags!) and baby had her diaper bag. This is allowed per Cathay Pacific and almost all the other airlines. When we checked our suitcases in Chennai and got our boarding pass, the person at the counter gave us two tags each and said the laptop bags and diaper/ milk bag were allowed. After going through customs and immigration, there is a security check point just in front of the gate manned by some police like uniformed guys. Do not know if they are government or private security. They said "one bag only!! either your carry bag or laptop bag.. choose !!". There were a lot of guys ahead of me who were shouting and yelling in protest, but the security guys said "idhar lika hai" (it is written here) and pointed to some fine print on a board which was put only at this security gate! They asked all the people to wait for the various airline representatives to show up. I was wondering what to do, when the guy in front of me (Tamizh guy flying in Air France flight) walked out of the line, opened his little suitcase removed all the neatly ironed pants and shirts. He proceeded to put them over his left arm, then covered them with his Leather Jacket. He had put his laptop bag inside the bigger carry on in the space he had created. He gave me a wink and went through the security check. Insipired by this, I saw that I could actually expand my carry on bag by opening a zipper that goes all around the bag. It made the bag look really heavy, but these guards were just obsessed with the one bag only policy. I quickly shoved my laptop bag inside (Couldnt even pull the zipper over completely, so I put on a thick shirt and Jacket which I was going to take out once we reached SFO!). I got through thanks to some expert cooperation from baby, who silently watched the proceedings. After I went to the gate, we sat next to the Air France dude and he said "Govt. rules! You just have to find a workaround. Arguing is not going to solve anything. That guy who is yelling over there is sooo screwed!". I thanked him with all my heart for getting me through that checkpoint..

2. Security : We came to Hongkong at 3:20. Our next flight out to San Francisco was 4:30 and boarding was to start at 4:10. That gave us 50 minutes to leave one gate and go to another gate in the same terminal. They made all the passengers go through an X-ray checkpoint and by the time we made it near the other gate it was 4:15 !! That is when we got the big shock. We were diverted to another security check. Apparently the policy is that people boarding flights to the US have to go through an additional manual security check. There were 40 dudes in four rows holding up green signs to say they are ready to check. A security guy diverts everyone coming in the line to one of the 40 chekers. So San ends up in one corner, me in another corner and we all carry the extra kids bags. The guys go through everything.. EVERYTHING ! I was asked about the "rasam saadam" (rice with gravy) that was packed for Jr.'s in-flight food..Was even asked to taste it. I just smiled and did it. One chinese guy remarked "they really take it out on the US bound passengers here!" He was right. I was questioned about the milk flask, the bottled Gerber baby foods, etc. etc.

3. Got Milk ? After we boarded the flight (we were one of the last ones to board), San asks the hostess to get some warm milk for the baby and she replies "we don't have milk on the flight maam. only dairy creamer!" We paid 900 odd dollars for that 75% ticket for baby and we don't get milk ?! Then another hostess came and said "you guys should get your own milk for the baby". I explained to her that someohow the milk in our flask got spoilt (and showed her the flask), and also told her that this was a long 14 hour flight and we definitely were given milk in the many times we travelled with a baby on this leg. Finally a senior air hostess said "let me check if we have any in Business class" and got us some milk!!! It was pretty obvious that they had the milk but for some reason, wanted to hold on to it. Later a different air hostess said "if we give you milk, then everyone just asks for milk to drink!".. I was thinking "if you serve food that is not easy on the stomach, then obviously the older people and kids are going to ask for a banana and milk".. Incidentally, there were no bananas either on the flight!

So folks coming on the pacific route via Hongkong, please:

1. make sure your carry on bag is expandable or put your laptop inside one bag
2. run to the next gate in Hongkong. That X-ray check does not get you in the next flight!
3. Take a huge flask of milk! and be ready to taste it in HongKong in front of the security guy.. Incidentally, you might find out that the milk is spoilt!! and if you are worried about the food, BYOB (bring your own banana - that is!).

It was a refreshing trip on a lot of fronts. Will post soon with pictures..